News - page 58

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: We finally know exactly when Apple’s iPhone 16 event will happen. It’s “Glowtime” on September 9 … and now it’s time to talk about what’s in store.

Also on The CultCast:

• iOS 18’s AI-powered Clean Up feature in the Photos app yields some freakish results that might give you nightmares.
• The latest Mac rumors make us buzzy about the future.
• If you think Apple is behind on AI — at least on a practical level — you’re wrong.
• And Griffin wraps up the show with some cool Continuity features that everyone who owns multiple Apple devices should know.

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

iOS 18 is packed full of great features Cult of Mac has covered at length — but the upcoming iPhone software update packs many more tiny features and small improvements that Apple did not mention or talk about. If you know to look out for these features, they’ll make the everyday interactions with your phone faster and easier.

Here’s a roundup of 18 little changes and useful features in iOS 18. Keep reading or watch our video.

A new render shows the iPhone 16 Pro in a gold titanium finish. Rumors suggest the new color option will replace the blue titanium shade in Apple’s 2024 iPhone Pro lineup.

The mockup also shows a cutout in the iPhone 16 Pro’s case near the Power button, supposedly for the new Capture button.

An Apple TV+ documentary brings a whole lot of gritty reality to dreams of becoming a Korean pop star. K-Pop Idols features interviews with young singers that reveal the enormous amount of effort needed to make their performances look effortless.

The trailer for the series includes one of its young stars saying, “I thought being a K-pop idol was going to be all great and beautiful, but that’s not the reality.”

UPDATE: The new docuseries premiered on Apple TV+ on Friday. All six episodes are ready to stream now.

California’s legislature passed a hotly contested AI safety bill Thursday — the groundbreaking Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act (SB 1047).

The controversial bill, which awaits Governor Gavin Newsom’s signature before it can become law, introduces the first major AI regulations in the United States. It could have far-reaching implications for tech companies and users alike.

Guess what percentage of Mac buyers choose the Mac mini. Whatever your estimate is, the real number is probably lower. Much lower.

Despite selling so very few of them, it seems likely Apple keeps making and updating the tiny macOS desktop because many of them go to young buyers just starting on a lifetime of buying Apple products.

Spotify users can no longer control the volume of Spotify Connect devices using their iPhone’s volume button. Instead, they must use the workaround: an in-app volume slider.

The company is making this change because Apple discontinued the technology behind this feature.

The new AI-powered Clean Up feature in the Apple Photos app got people raving about the magical ability to “fix” pictures — and posting examples of when things go horribly wrong. The positive experiences sound great, but the negative ones look like pure nightmare fuel.

Apple added the Clean Up feature in iOS 18.1 beta 3, released Wednesday, and users put the new photo touch-up tool to the test immediately. The results, posted on X, show a wide range of outcomes, including some hilarious misfires.

Before Napoleon hit theaters in late 2023, director Ridley Scott promised a longer, more complete cut would follow on Apple TV+. The streaming service fulfilled that promise on Thursday.

The original lasts 2 hours and 38 minutes, while Napoleon: The Director’s Cut brings nearly an hour more of Joaquin Phoenix as the infamous French emperor and conqueror of much of Europe.

Sports fans can enjoy new features in the free Apple Sports iPhone app, some in time for football season and others coming soon, Apple said Thursday. The app launched earlier this year with an emphasis on simplicity to help fans easily track scores and stats.

Many prominent news outlets and social media platforms have opted out of Apple’s AI training data collection via website scraping, according to a new report Thursday.

Apple does it through a new tool called Applebot-Extended, which the iPhone giant introduced less than three months ago. If major content websites opt out of Apple AI scraping, that could have implications for the continuing development of Apple Intelligence.

The new Vagabond Mobile Gaming Controller transforms iPhone, iPad mini and Android devices into full-fledged gaming consoles, Elo Gaming Limited said Tuesday. It called the device suitable for casual and pro gamers alike.

Contrary to popular opinion, Apple appears to be ahead in AI — and in some cases seems far in front of the competition. The revelation comes from an Apple white paper that hasn’t gotten much attention, but should.

A white paper on Apple’s Foundation Model, the company’s homegrown LLM (large-language model) that powers Apple Intelligence, reveals two important facts: it’s the safest in design and highly competitive with both Meta’s Llama and OpenAI’s GPT-4. This seems to debunk a big myth about Apple’s AI efforts: that the company’s privacy-first philosophy would hold it back.

The Apple Foundation Model is just as capable in tests of writing and summarization compared to the top LLMs by OpenAI, Meta, Mistral AI and others. And thanks to Apple’s strict guidelines for expunging harmful content, human-evaluated tests repeatedly rank its foundation model as the safest above all the rest — by a wide margin.

It looks like Apple Intelligence could be off to a good start.

Apple will seemingly continue offering enhanced specs on its Pro Max iPhone to differentiate it from other models. As a part of the strategy, the company might only equip the iPhone 17 Pro Max with 12GB RAM in 2025.

Additionally, the phone will feature an upgraded cooling system. This system will use a combination of a vapor chamber and graphite sheets for better thermal efficiency.

In a surprising move, Apple is making it easier to transfer your playlists from Apple Music to YouTube Music. This is the first time the Cupertino company is offering a tool like this for Apple Music users.

If you are an Apple Music subscriber, the tool makes transferring your playlists to YouTube Music easy.

Hawaii just became the latest U.S. state to support digital driver’s licenses and IDs stored in the Wallet app on iPhone or Apple Watch.

That brings to seven the number of states to support Apple’s system, as several joined since the start of summer.

A pair of new portable power stations from Anker Solix give users multiple ports to choose from and a handy way to light up a dark campground. Lightweight and attractively designed, the Anker Solix C300 DC and the Anker Solix C300 offer new options for energizing outdoor adventures (or riding out power outages).

Released Wednesday, the two similar-looking power stations offer different options for different scenarios. And they’re both on sale for a limited time.

In a move that could significantly impact Apple’s wireless charging technology in China, the country’s regulators plan to ban many wireless chargers, including Apple 15-watt MagSafe and Qi2 models, because of new radio-frequency rules, a new report said Tuesday. Why? Apparently it’s to “maintain the order of airwaves.”

Market analysts expect Apple to reach a new milestone in 2024, with global revenues exceeding $400 billion for the first time, according to a new report Wednesday. It anticipates growth in Apple’s hardware and services businesses to drive that record-breaking revenue growth.

Powered by artificial intelligence, the tiny new Plaud NotePin wearable records, transcribes and summarizes meetings and events to help you manage tasks at work, school or home, Plaud.AI said Wednesday. The company described the pill-shaped device, which you can wear on a necklace, wristband, clip or pin, as a “memory capsule.”

“Plaud NotePin is more than just an AI device,” said Nathan Hsu, CEO and Co-founder at Plaud.AI. “It’s your always-ready business partner, handling mundane, daily tasks so you can concentrate on what truly drives value in your life and career. This small but powerful device is reshaping the professional landscape, allowing users to optimize their day-to-day workflow and focus on what matters most.”

Apple’s 2025 iPhones could sport as much as 12GB RAM for more on-device AI features. A new leak from China claims Apple will equip the iPhone 17 with 12GB RAM.

Rumors indicate the iPhone 16 lineup will stick with the same 8GB RAM as Apple’s current iPhone 15 Pro series.

Apple reportedly laid off 100 employees from its services division Tuesday due to a change in priorities. The biggest job cuts hit the team that worked on the Apple Books app and the Apple Bookstore. This marks the company’s fourth round of layoffs this year.

The new mophie powerstation plus ultra plugs directly into a wall, and built-in cables let it plug straight into your iPhone or Mac. But it’s no simple wall adapter — it’s also a 10,000mAh power bank.

mophie also introduced on Tuesday two more models in the 2024 powerstation plus line with a variety of features.

The latest Snapchat version runs full-screen on an iPad, as the social networking service finally noticed Apple makes tablets.

Complaints aside, it’s a boon for users who can now see their friends and use silly filters on a larger display.

An update to the Wearable Devices Mudra Band for Apple Watch brings enhanced same-hand, touchless gesture control and task management for users even in older models of the device, the company said Monday. The artificial intelligence-powered functionality complements the band’s existing solutions for iPhone, iPad and other Apple products, it added.

“One of our initial goals with the Mudra Band has been to provide our users with same-hand touchless watch operation, and we are pleased to cater to multiple requests by our customers,” said Asher Dahan, CEO of Wearable Devices. “This is a step forward in AI-based wearable technology, pushing the boundaries of what wearable technology can offer.”